A Bleak Sense of Anarchy
by Daddy Elric
Summary: Of course no one could know. If they did, that'd be the end, both for Edward and his aquaintances. And they couldn't have that. So now.... they had to plan. [Chimera Ed]
1. Chapter 1

Hokay, this is Our second official fic. No flames, please -- We worked hard. Though it didn't turn out so good.. It was five AM when We wrote the first half or so.

Disclaimer: We don't own Fullmetal Alchemist, or the Final Fantasy VIII references. (The divider things.) Too bad; if We did, Ling'd totally be in the anime. And you'd get to choose who Squall ends up with in FF8.

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Escape...? Was it an escape, really, if you were being chased? Finally, the cloaked body (who, mind, walked with a limp, for some reason) slowed, a drop of rain hitting his pointed ear, making it twitch. He wasn't wearing a hood, obviously.

Augh. Now it'd started raining? Just his luck. The boy dove behind some trashcans, hunkering down under the bushes, his only umbrella. He was feeling sluggish already. Rain didn't do such good things for his new body, which couldn't handle the humidity so well and therefore converted it into sleepiness. He really wondered how long he'd been out there for; his internal clock was wonked right up, and he couldn't quite remember. Was it an hour? A second? Years? He couldn't be sure.

This boy... he was like nothing the world had ever seen. Well, the fanfiction world had seen him before; but Amestris hadn't. Sporting pointed ears and a long, thin tail (and this was just what was visible on the outside on first glance), he was what the otaku world called a catboy. Amestris called something like him a chimera.

Adding to the ears and tail, on a closer glance, were six long, coarse hairs on the sides of his face. Whiskers, of course. He was about three feet tall, if he stood on his right booted foot -- if he stood on the other one, he was around five-oh. And... glancing down at one of his hands -- the one that was half-covered in his red sleeve -- it was a paw. Not a traditional animalistic paw, of course -- it was more like a normal hand with rather puffy, paw-shaped fingers, obviously evolved to hold claws.

Of course.. nothing about this boy could be considered evolved. Sure, the main, humanoid form was, but... he seemed to be half-cat. Which didn't quite make sense, when you thought about it, but anything was possible in a world that contained such a force as alchemy.

Well.. not everything, as the oversized metal limbs hanging weakly off his body obviously showed, but nearly everything. Anything inanimate could be reconstructed, reformed, to become something different. Touka koukan... equivalent exchange. Anything transmuted using the mysterious, alchemic energy, was done using the three main steps -- understanding, deconstruction, and reconstruction. But there were rules, and those who blew the rules off were punished in a horrible way. It could only be something of the same attributes. Watery could only create wet. Only something inanimate, never something made of flesh and blood, could be transmuted. Not without horrible consequences, consequences most refused to face. This boy... obviously he had committed that sin, and paid the price.

Right now, though... it was four years after that, and he was sitting in the bushes. The small leaves curled around his head, one ear twitching violently at the feeling of something caressing the pointed, fur-covered cartiliage, so he put his hood up. Currently, despite that, he was attempting to find a soft bit of dirt that he could curl up on and wait out the storm, the one he knew was coming. The bushes wouldn't be much shelter, but they were all he could have without being discovered and taken to a lab, or simply killed on the spot.

He still had his clothes, his possessions, this he knew to be true. He was wearing his usual attire; the red overcoat enveloped the black jeans and shirt he'd become accustomed to wearing. But these clothes were tattered and worn, as if he'd been wearing them for years without repair. Well, the former was true, he /had/ been wearing them a long time, but he'd had enough sense to fix his clothes if they were ripped or one of the seams split. Right now, though.. he'd repaired them a few days ago. They'd been ripped in the change from fully-human to anthromorphic, it seemed. There was a bit of flaxen fur poking out of his jeans, the same dirty color as his loose, unbraided hair, so obviously he was nearly covered in the stuff. (Actually, he only had it on his sides and lower body, but there was no way of knowing that right now.)

His watch was there, too -- he'd heard the chain jingling as he moved. Which was lucky -- he couldn't possibly be dismissed from his position as Major if he still had the watch. Unless, of course, they stripped him of his title and sent him back to his hometown -- that was possible as well.

/I'll be waiting here../

A sudden crash, and one of the garbage cans fell over, spilling its contents nearly on top of the poor blonde, who jumped back instinctively, fur standing on end. What'd just happened?

His question was answered, however.

"What--!"

That voice.. he knew that voice. How could he forget it? It was always there when he went into work, always with that smug tone. Right now, however, it just sounded pissed off. The voice of his ebony-haired commander, Roy Mustang.

Apparently another of the Taisa's subordinates was there as well. Three others, to be exact. They each had their own scents, though weakened greatly by the rain. A certain cut of cigarettes, gunpowder, and oil. These were only a few of the signature scents, of course, each of them had a few. Those were the most prominent, under another, even more significant scent. The regular cotton scent, overshadowed by a much stronger one -- the scent of alcohol. Bourbon whiskey, to be exact. Roy'd had a pint.

When he'd jumped, unfortunately, he'd leapt right out of the bushes -- right into the viewpoint of the soldiers. And he froze, the deer-in-headlights look very prominent on his whiskered face. He hadn't expected this, and this wasn't the way he'd planned on informing them. It made coming out and saying it a bit easier, though -- now he didn't have to awkwardly reveal anything.

Freezing in one spot, though.. it made him fall, and that gave away where he was even more. He cursed his luck as he attempted to pick his bruised body up before they could reach him. He was, of course, too weak for that, so he had to defeatedly flop back down, breathing heavily.

A stutter, then a choked sound as the alcohol-scented colonel switched from telling Jean off (the Second Lieutenant had pushed him) to realizing what had just leapt out of the bushes. "Ful- /Fullmetal!"

Fullmetal... Yeah. Yeah, that was it. He'd nearly forgotten. How could he, he wondered? He'd had that title for years now. All he could do at the moment, of course, was groan and hide his face. Which bent his whiskers in the process, and made him let out an "ow!"

Hurried footsteps, and then someone was turning him over not-so-gently -- obviously it was Roy. "Fullmetal," he said quietly, "what the hell are you doing out here?"

/So if you come here.../

About fifteen minutes later... he'd been gathered up reluctantly by the colonel, whose alcoholic scent he still couldn't stand, and they'd brought him back to headquarters, called Aru, and placed him on one of the couches in Roy's office. He'd curled up there, shutting his eyes, but sleep didn't come, so he just perked up his ears and listened as they discussed what would happen. They hadn't taken off his hood, hadn't seen the tail, the paws, the fur, or the whiskers; they just knew something was off.

Maybe he's injured.

Maybe he was lost.

Maybe he ran off.

Possibilities, possibilities. They came in a whirlwind of choices: had he tried to escape? Was he hurt? He didn't want to think about it, and he didn't see why they should care. They'd left him to become like this, and now they were taking him back? It didn't make sense in his mind. (Of course, it was rather frazzled, from the transmutation process. That might have had something to do with it.)

Suddenly, he was approached; by Roy, of course. He had the authority. "Fullmetal."

He groaned, but didn't reply.

"Fullmetal, I want you to tell me what you were doing out there."

Still, no reply. The storm started full throttle; a boom of thunder drowned out the pitterpatter of rain on the roof.

"Fullmetal. Answer me."

Finally.. he opened his eyes, blinking in the light. He could do nothing to hide the slits that his normally-round pupils had decided to reshape as, but he could keep his eyes lowered. It was possible they wouldn't pay any attention. "Wha... what..?"

Just a mumble. That was all.

"Fullmetal, tell me what happened."

Tell him what happened... This penetrated the mist shrouding his thoughts and he jumped back again, pressing his back into the couch as far as he could. "If I... If I tell you... you'll send me off to a lab," he murmured in reply.

Roy shook his head furiously, glaring once he'd stopped. "Why the hell would I send you off to a lab? You're a valuable subordinate. I can't afford to do that."

And then... Edward Elric looked his superior in the eye, slitted butterscotch meeting obsidian, and replied, "Alright."

/You'll find me./

The first thing he'd done was to knock his hood off; it seemed apropriate. Secondly he'd taken the coat right off, gritted his teeth, pointed canines and all, clenched his mismatched fists, and announced, "This is what you left your subordinate to become, Mustang. You happy, or should I write up a report?"

The shocked look on his superior's face, however... Roy hadn't been expecting this, Ed could see. "Well?"

Roy spluttered uncharacteristically for a few moments, babbling incomprehensible words. Finally, he barked, "No one knows. Got it?"

Of course no one could know. If they did, that'd be the end, both for Edward and his aquaintances. And they couldn't have that. So now... they had to plan.

/I promise./

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DUN DUN DUUUUUN. We really don't like how this turned out. But what can you do, right? Alrighty, you know the drill. R&R, all that crap, and We'll write some more depending on how many reviews. Five'll do for the first chapter.


	2. Chapter 2

Ah! Reviews already! Well, it might have been the fact We dropped the link to several friends. xD But no matter. Thanks for reviewing, guys; it makes Us want to write more to this. We're going to start working on NC again if We can get out of Our procrastinating phase.

Review replies:

**Riza**: xDD Does it? We're tempted to get Ed into the rummies.

**Taisa**: xD We chortled, reading that. You're mad cause you have to wait? What now, that We're uploading it? xD

You can count on Us for ideas, if you like. We'll supply you.

;; We're not THAT good, you think too highly of Us!

**vampirelf**: You know, We wonder that Ourself. xD We don't really plan things; just let them go as they like, so right now We don't know how long it's been either. We think only a day or so; he wasn't reported missing. They're going to PLAN, but... without telling what's going on. xD

Jean, Roy, Riza and Lt. Alexander Rubens (who, mind, is an OC created by Us for a roleplay, but We stick him in other things) are coming back from the bar at that specific scene. Jean's a little more intoxicated than Roy, obviously. Rather reminiscent of Neko's Confusion, but originally this was meant to be an alternate take: if Ed wasn't suffering from amnesia.

**Kat**: So you figured out the review thing, eh? Good job. xD Augh, shut up, they are not BAD! How could they be? They're very interesting, all you need is an EDITOR. Which We will be taking the job of. So you dun have to worry about that.

**Rose**: Wave! xDD We love the Wave!

And off We go! -- Wait. Disclaimer, We nearly forgot about that. So here it is:

**Disclaimer**: We don't own FMA. You know why. Arakawa Hiromu gets that leisure. She's 100 genius, so she deserves it. We also don't own Kingdom Hearts, which is the divider quotes in this chapter.

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And so, in this way, they planned. And planned. And, yet again, planned.

Edward didn't see the reason for it: he was content to just stay curled up on the couch and sleep the night's horrible events off. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case, as the matter of the new affairs greatly involved him. Yeah, Mr Scientist. Steal my humanity, now you have to go and fuck up my sleep, too? What kind of justice is that? That was basically Ed's take on it.

But Ed's opinion didn't matter, for the soldiers planned still, among stacks of paperwork, cans of pens, and the occasional papercut. (There were a few furious curses from Jean about this: "Damn it! Again! Alex, pass the bandages.")

The catboy stayed huddled up on the couch, hunkered down under his coat, which he was now using as a blanket. Unfortunately for him, they kept asking him questions, which made sleep impossible.

And then in came Kain Fuery, his entrance marked by the scent of Hayate. Apparently he liked to play with the black mutt, he was practically bathing in its scent. And as soon as he came in, he saw the condition Major Elric was currently in. And then... that was it. There was no stopping him. Had Major Armstrong been there, Edward might have been spared. (Not from a giant bear hug from the Major himself, of course, however.) But he wasn't, and as soon as he saw Edward... he dove right at him. Luckily, Ed jumped back, pressing into the couch, and Kain hit the floor rather hard. But he got up, and immediately attempted to touch one of the alchemist's ears. As soon as he did, Ed had his claws out and was aiming for his throat.

After the end of this little escapade, Roy looked over at them, frowning slightly. "Master Sergeant, could you please calm yourself and come help us? We're working right now," he informed the younger soldier wearily. "We could use the help."

Kain snapped to attention, to the sniggers of Jean and Heymans. "Yessir!" replied the softspoken boy eagerly, rather like a small child who was playing a game of wartime with his friends.

Edward rolled his eyes, then laid back down on his side, shut his eyes, and attempted to tune the soldiers out. Of course, it didn't work so well. As soon as he did, another question was shot at him, and this one made him rather pensive.

"Do you remember who did this, Fullmetal?" Obviously the question was Roy's, but.. the question itself was.. he couldn't describe it. It made him choke up, and got the entire host of soldiers looking at him funny. (As if they hadn't looked at him funny enough times already.)

Finally, he breathed, "I... I have no idea. Not at all." Flicking his ears decidedly, the chimera put his head back down to listen to the staccato of rain bouncing down atop the roof. As predicted, none of the soldiers would leave him alone, still battering him with questions. Finally he looked up, scowling. "Could you leave me alone? I'm trying to sleep." They backed off after that, not liking the looks of his claws.

/Thinking of you, wherever you are./

Finally, they were done. Ed had long gone to sleep, ears tucked back and tail wrapped around his legs. Fuery saw this as an opportunity, but he soon found himself looking down the barrel of the First Lieutenant's pistol, and refrained from examining the chimera on the couch.

By then, Aru had arrived as well. He was rather surprised at his brother's condition, and kept back, though even by just the vibe rolling off him you could tell he was desperately resisting glomping his poor nii-san. Luckily for Ed, the armor refrained, and simply sat in the corner to wait for the blonde to wake up before attacking him. Ed would never allow it, though; he was all bruised up, and wouldn't possibly stand for it if his brother bear-hugged him.

Roy looked up, giving Aru a furtive glance. "Wake your brother up," he commanded, reclining in his swivel chair.

Aru blinked, as much as a suit of armor could blink with glowy eyes, that was. "Wake him up? But doesn't he seem to want to stay asleep?" he questioned, getting up with a grinding sound.

"Yes, that's true," replied the colonel, "but he needs to wake up anyway. We're going to have to put him through some sort of examination; figure out what changed and what stayed the same, that kind of thing."

The armor cocked his head. (Another grinding sound.) "Ah... alright, then," he said nervously. "I'll get him up, then.." He made his way over to Edward, who had his eyes closed, twitching his ears groggily at sounds, that sort of thing. "Nii-san," he said softly. No answer, though an ear-flick in his direction. Aru put a glove on his brother's side. "Nii-san," he mumbled, a little louder. But he didn't have to shake the catboy, or do anything of the sort. At the touch (Aru had obviously put his hand on a bruised spot) his yellow eyes had snapped open, which he obviously thought was a crime, because he shut them again. (He'd looked directly at the flourescent light.)

"Aru.. what time is it...?" came his voice groggily, though he looked like he'd fallen asleep again.

"Um... midnight," said Aru slowly. "Why?" He didn't see any reason for his brother to ask this specific question when he woke up. Maybe he didn't have the animal's internal clock? Edward did like to check what time it was when he woke up, a habit he'd never shook. Obviously he wanted to know, even if he'd only woken up for a nap.

"Wondering. Why'd you get me up, anyway?" He sat up then, hands together between his spread legs as he rose from his sleeping position. If he hadn't been his subordinate, and Edward, to boot, Roy would have probably said that was rather cute. He didn't dare, though.

Roy broke in then, eyeing the pair. He gave Ed a look that clearly said "Shut up so I can talk", then began. "Because we need to examine you."

Which rather freaked out Edward. Examined? By Roy Mustang? What a day. "You're not touching me," he hissed. "Why does it have to be /you?"

Roy smirked. "Who said it'd be me, Fullmetal? Do you really want me that bad?" He nearly burst into a fit of laughter right there in front of his gang, but kept it down. He couldn't let that ruin his reputation. "Alright, then, fine. I'll conduct it myself."

And so it was that Edward Elric was carried out the door under his brother's arm, kicking and making a fuss with Roy striding ahead, rolling his eyes the whole way.

/We pray for our sorrows to end, and hope that our hearts will blend./

Finally, Aru had placed Ed on a metal table in Roy's private laboratory in his basement. Roy had paced around the perimiter of the barren room, with Ed watching him uncomfortably, tail flicking. "So what are you going to do?" he finally asked.

Roy looked up from pensive mode. "Ah. Right. Just look you over. That sort of thing." Which really sounded to Edward like the guy was going to rape him, or something. It didn't go over too well with him, but he stayed put.

Finally, he spat out, "Stop looking at me like that."

Roy cocked his head slightly, raven locks obeying gravity and doing the same. "Like what, exactly?"

"Like you're undressing me with your eyes. It's creepy."

Roy let out a chuckle. "Do I really seem that way to you, Edward?" He'd decided to drop the title. They weren't at work anymore, of course. It was kind of creepy to Ed, though, who was used to hearing the word Fullmetal fall off his superior's lips. Nothing you could do, though, right? Right.

"Yes," said Edward decidedly. The deities were against him today, it seemed; why couldn't Roy be some kind of closet sex offender?

Roy rolled his eyes. "Yeah. Thanks for the vote of confidence." He huffed a little, then continued. "I'm ready to begin, if you are."

The catboy groaned, then gave a sigh of defeat. "I've got no choice, have I?"

/Now I will step forward to realize this wish./

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Done! There, Taisa, there's your chapter. xD Be happy about it. Right, faithful readers -- looks over the small group Okay, so there's not many of you -- you know what goes on. R&R, all that crap.


	3. Chapter 3

Bwahah. Third chapter. It's the same bland crap you're used to, don't worry about that. Ah, and We've changed Our penname. Fits a little more now. xD Also, sorry for not updating sooner! Case of writer's block that wouldn't go away.

Review replies:

**Linx: **xD We just think he's cute. Plus Our Ed Kitty is pretty intense, too; what with the fur and all that. xD

**Enpowera**: Actually. His name is both Al and Aru. Obviously you haven't watched the Japanese version, as Our dear Taisa points out. In it, his name is pronounced Aruphonse, instead of just Alphonse. Plus "Aru" prevents writing "all".

**Taisa**: We can tell. xD

Yes! IDEA.

Awww. That's nice of you to say. But really, We don't think We're that good. Taisa's lots better than he thinks. nuzzle

**vampirelf**: Ah, a second review! xD You're here again! 3 Hah, maybe he is, with Our Roy on the case. xD He's a little weird. But Aru's holding back! He's not going to kill his poor nii-san. xD

**Fang**: Why thank you. But really, it's not that good. xD

Disclaimer! See, We didn't forget this time! We don't make any money off FMA. We wish We did, but We dun. We also don't own Chrono Cross, which is the quotes for the dividers this time around. And Riza came up with the tail-radius thing.

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The first thing Roy did was to pull out a clipboard, which he placed on the table. Ed peered over at it, trying

to read the Taisa's squished penmanship upside down. It was too messy, and he couldn't. "Jeez, you have a bad hand," he commented, trying to fill the empty silence. The quiet attitude Roy had taken on kind of creeped him out. Usually, the colonel had something to say. Now, though, he was silent. Strange as it was, Roy didn't seem to see anything different. Obviously his mind was buzzing.

"Maybe I do," agreed Roy finally. "You try mindlessly scrawling your name on bits of paper for hours on end, you see how long you can write nicely. You don't have such good handwriting yourself, I might add."

Ed rolled his eyes. "Worse now."

Which caught Roy's attention slightly. He nearly asked why, but then.. he realized. Ed was lefthanded. Which meant that his handwriting would be bad to start with, and now it'd be even worse, considering the fact that he had a paw to write with now. And Major Elric was not ambidextrous. (It wouldn't matter anyway; they'd already called for a wrench-throwing, hotheaded mechanic. Also known as Winry Rockbell. So Ed wouldn't have even a metal human hand for long. Ed didn't need to know, of course; he'd hide under the covers at his dorm if he knew she was coming.)

"So," said Ed, "how does this go on, exactly?"

/What was the start of all this/

Roy blinked. "Impatient, aren't you?" Which resulted in a scoff. "Well, I presume you're covered in fur, right?" A nod. "You'll need to take off your shirt, first of all -" He was cut off then.

"So you can look at me?"

A derisive laugh. "You wish, Fullmetal," (he'd obviously slipped back into "Fullmetal") "you wish. Actually, I expect you're bruised by the way you shot awake when your brother woke you up, correct?"

Why did Roy have to know everything? Edward just nodded, though. "Yeah. Don't know how I got those."

A scribble on the clipboard. "Go on, Fullmetal," instructed Roy with a smirk. He was cut off again, though. Jeez, was Ed so impatient he had to cut in everywhere, interrupt everything the Taisa said? Calm yourself, boy, Roy nearly spat at him, to interrupt and make his feelings on this particular subject known to Ed. But he kept quiet, not wanting to miss any important information that the boy might spit out at any time.

"I can't," was the bleak reply.

Which made the colonel lift an incredulous brow. "You can't." It wasn't a question. "Why not?"

"I can't manage with my arms like this."

Oh, for the Gate's sake. "You mean I have to do it?"

"Most likely."

Roy groaned, then stepped over to the table. "Come here, Fullmetal." This didn't seem like such a good idea to Ed. Who knew what Roy was going to do to him. But it was an order from a superior commander, obviously, the way he was speaking to the younger catboy. So he had to, or be rebuked. But he didn't have any good comebacks on hand. So he let his pride drop and scooted over on the table.

And so it was that Edward Elric was half-undressed by Roy Mustang. Under protest, mind you.

/When did the cogs of fate begin to turn/

They'd done a few different examinations. Ed's body had been covered in bruises, so much that he was like one large one. After Roy had noted this on his trusty clipboard, he'd gotten Ed to get up and put his weight on his paw-foot instead of his automail one, to measure him. He'd measured up to… three foot one. A full two feet shorter than he had been, to the horror of the elder Elric brother. (Roy hadn't even told him how small he'd become; he just said he was smaller. Ed had taken a fit.) Roy had measured the length of his claws, the radius of his tail, all that stuff, and noted it down. Ed wondered why, really. (Roy would later add these into Ed's official file; he didn't believe there was any way to change him back. There wasn't, of course. Ed didn't need to know that, he'd be horrified.)

Suddenly, Edward's ears twitched, and he looked up to the ceiling. "Your phone's ringing."

"Is it?"

"Yeah. You might want to go get it."

Roy lifted a brow, then shook his head. "No, that's fine. It's bound to be Maes asking me for film again."

"Does he do that a lot?"

Ed's questions rather surprised Roy. He seemed to genuinely want to know what was going on. Roy didn't know why, but he figured it was something to do with being half-cat. Ed hadn't been curious about things like this before, but... it would make sense now. So he'd disregard it. Possibly answer.

"That's none of your concern, Fullmetal."

Ed looked crestfallen, like he'd really wanted to know. Most likely cat instincts again; Roy didn't care, but it was something to think about. Suddenly he remembered something, and looked to his small subordinate. "Your mechanic was supposed to come fix your arm and leg," he informed him.

Ed froze. "You're... you mean Winry?"

"That I do."

"You called _Winry_." Ed sounded incredulous, like he wouldn't believe it till Winry walked through the door and gave him her customary beating with her wrench.

"I did. Well, not really me," Roy admitted. "It was First Lieutenant Hawkeye."

"It doesn't matter who _did it_, " Ed informed him. "It matters that you called _Winry_, and not some other mechanic. Do you have any idea what Winry's going to do to me when she sees me?"

"Hug you?"

Ed scoffed. "Hardly. She's going to _beat_ me, Mustang, and it'll be your fault."

/Perhaps it's impossible to grasp that answer now.../

After that, Ed, Aru and Roy had left the house, Ed stumping along dutifully beside his brother instead of being carried. He obviously wanted to leave. They'd gone back to HQ, where Winry would be coming. Ed sat in the corner of the couch, ears pinned back against his head, tail limp, and shivering slightly. He didn't like the sound of Winry coming to see him. At all. Of course, not only good things come to those who wait.

There was a knock at the door, and immediately Aru grabbed on to his brother's tail as the owner of said tail gave a squeak and attempted to dart over the side of the couch. "No, nii-san," said Aru sternly, "she's going to see you anyway."

Edward gave a sigh of defeat and settled back down beside the large suit of armor. "Fine.."

Havoc had gotten up to open the door for Winry, who was standing there in her usual black skirt and white tank top combination. She was standing there in a pose the occupants of the room took to be impatience, and she had her suitcase in one hand and a wrench in the other, leaning it against her shoulder and tapping it every once in a while. "Where is he!" she demanded.

Once again, Edward gave a squeak. Aru gave him a slight pat to calm him down, but it didn't have much of an effect. Winry, on the other hand, approached Aru and moved him over forcibly to peer down at the nervous catboy. "_Ed!"_

/From deep within the flow of time../

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Lulz. Done. It's a crappy chapter, but... We wanted to be finally finished it. Sorry again that it's so short and that it took so long to come out with..


	4. Chapter 4

Aaaaaaaand... Chapter four! We're getting a lot of ideas that.. have nothing to do with BSoA. Therefore, Gloom'll probably end up being a collection. But maybe not all RoyEd, so We'll have to make a new story just for that.. -shrug- Doesn't matter.

Woah, more reviews than We expected. We might have to up the number of reviews per update to 10 if this keeps up. xD

**Kat**: Thankies, Envy!

**Acesha**: You're right. We went back and saw that. Sorry, We'll try to keep from doing that. Thanks for the compliment, though!

**vampirelf**: You're a loyal reviewer, aren't you? Thankies! Winry would make automail to match, yes. Bahaha, Winry isn't too happy.

**Fang**: You've reviewed before, too! Thanks! xD We're glad you liked it.

**Rokona**: Why would Winry hug him? xD He's Ed. Besides, We don't like Winry coming in contact with him. At all. -can't stand EdWin- Automail's fine. But other than that... KEEP YER GRUBBY PAWS OFF HIM, ROCKBELL.

**Kairi**: xD Another Winry review -- O.O We don't like the sound of that carrot...

**Merkitten**: xD So many reviews about Winry! Heh, Roy probably won't mention it to him. Ed's prone to throwing things, you know.

Disclaimer: We don't own... FMA, nor do We own any of the lyrics to Boa's "Duvet". What We do own is... this fic, which, BTW, is not to be put onto any sites without Our consent. PM on the off chance you'd like to use it for something. The off, very low chance.

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It wasn't that he was really _scared_. Oh, no. it was the simple fact that Winry Rockbell could scare you peeless when she was angry, no matter who you were. And as soon as she spotted Edward, huddled up on the couch between his brother's armor and the armrest, all hell broke loose.

Imagine, now. Winry was being held back by Aruphonse, who was muttering instructions to his keen-eared brother as the blonde girl struggled in the armor's massive arms. (The instructions were mostly things like "Move -- now!" as a wrench was flung toward Edward.)

Finally Winry managed to calm herself. Aru let her down, and she stood, fists at her sides. "What the _fuck _happened to your automail, _Edward_!" she demanded venomously.

Ed eyeballed her for a moment. Of course she wouldn't care, she was Winry. But still, some friend she was. "_This _happened," was the response, as the catboy indicated himself.

Winry gaped, mouth opening and closing much like a beached fish. This gave the soldiers sitting around the office a chance to let out sniggers. Ed gonked at them while the occupants of the room awaited a reply from the blue-eyed girl.

When she finally spoke, Winry wasn't mad anymore. Or, at least, seemed not to be. "Ed," she said slowly, "what have you been doing?" Uh oh. Not such a good question. This always meant trouble for Edward.

The catboy gulped audibly. "Well," he started, but Winry didn't let him finish.

"See! I _knew _something like this was going to happen! You keep going on those fucking _escapades, _and then you always come back with your arm and leg all busted, and now it's your whole body!"

Ed covered his ears. She'd always been loud, but this was ridiculous. Aru decided to take it upon himself to save Edward from having busted eardrums. "Winry," said the armor quietly, "you're hurting his ears..."

Winry didn't stop yelling. All she did was turn to Aru, smile, say "Good!" and continue screaming.

/And you don't seem to understand../

A new voice joined the conversation, this one deeper and with more authority. "Miss Rockbell."

More yelling.

"Miss Rockbell," said Roy again, a little louder.

Still, no acknowledgement that Winry had heard him over her own yells.

Roy sighed. "Miss _Rockbell!_" he roared finally.

Winry quieted, then turned to Roy. "Yes?"

"Aren't you supposed to be... fixing his automail instead of screaming at him about it?" prodded Roy.

Winry paused, then smiled sheepishly. (Ed took this for a leer.) "Oh, right. Ed, c'mere. And get these people out of the room too."

Ed looked at her like she was crazy. Really, he thought she was, and he had good reason. She'd just (or so Ed thought) busted his eardrums. Both of them. Which would make it impossible for him to hear her, but Ed felt like sulking. "I am not coming near you after what you just tried to do to me."

The girl scoffed. "I'm not going to do anything."

"Fine.."

/A shame, you seemed an honest man/

After a slight debacle involving inserting claws into automail (while she was theorizing it on a sheet of paper that was quickly becoming covered in scribbles), Winry figured it out. With a rather hard tug on Ed's shoulder, she pulled the arm out of the socket, taking it into her lap to fiddle with the design. Ed sat back, wiggling his mismatched toes. He drummed his fingers on the armrest, flicked his ears around. In other words, fidgeting. Winry simply glared. "Don't fidget," she barked, going back to her work.

Roy had to stifle a snigger, but even through his hand, Ed heard it, and shot him the sort of look that said "Laugh, and I will rip your head off."

/And all the fears you hold so dear/

Finally, Winry was done. She was beaming, which was -- for most people anyway -- a good sign. To Ed, it was usually a death sentence. "I did it!" she said breathlessly, as if she hadn't believed she could. "Look, it looks exactly like that paw!"

Ed rolled his eyes, peering at the arm. She was right. "Does it have claws?"

The blonde girl nodded, still grinning uncontrollably. "Here, put it back on!"

As if Ed was about to do it by himself. That shit _hurt. _But he sighed, taking the arm in his left hand, and with a groan of "Fine.." shoved it back in the socket.

Not even a peep.

_That _surprised Roy. He'd remained after the rest of the soldiers had trooped out. He'd heard that Edward would never make a sound while getting his automail done. Now, he'd witnessed it.

What broke him out of his daze, of course, was -- "C'mon, Ed, we gotta do your leg now."

Edward groaned as Winry latched on again.

/Will turn to whisper in your ear/

Finally, Ed had both limbs fixed. He'd gotten up and was waving both hands at Winry to make her hurry up while she put her tools back in the large box, making his ears twitch every time one of the tools clinked against another. Finally she had them all organized once more, the scraps of metal on the bottom, tools in labeled sections ("SCREWDRIVERS", "WRENCHES", the works) above the scrap pile, and she closed the toolbox up. Winry wasn't too happy that Edward was hurrying her, however. "What's the matter?" she asked, glaring at him.

Ed instinctively took a step back. "Nothing," he said, a little too quickly.

Winry paid no attention and stood, toolbox at her side. "I'll be going, then, if there's nothing else for me to do," she explained, biffing a tub of something or other at Aru.

He blinked, catching it as it bounced off the side of his horned head. "What's this?" asked the softspoken boy in confusion.

"Polish," replied Winry. "It helps prevent scratches. Remember, I told you I'd get you some."

The armor seemed to glow slightly, nodding gratefully. "Thanks, Winry," he said, getting up to close the door behind her, though one of the soldiers would have if he hadn't.

Ed found this quite amusing, though he deigned not to show it. He _knew _Aru liked Winry. Pinako owed him big now.

/And you know I don't mean to hurt you/

The three had sat in silence for a few minutes, Aru fidgeting with the tub of polish, Ed flicking his tail idly, and Roy tapping a pen on a small stack of papers. "So," said Ed, breaking the uncomfortable silence. "What now?"

"Now," spoke up the colonel, "we either go back to my house or you live in the office."

Ed just stared.

/But you know that it means so much.. and you don't even feel a thing./

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... Uncomfortably short. Unfortunately, We had uber-writer's block and wanted to get it out a little quicker. We apologize for crapshake-quality


	5. Chapter 5

Nyaaaaaah! We had ideas, but they refused to come out of Our fingers. xD There's been 22 chapters in Eiderdown since the last update for this, not to mention a load of oneshots.. xD Sorry!

Also, the next chapter will be longer. This one's mostly filler.

**Review Replies: **

**Merkitten**: ...Actually... Winry is nearly _always _loud, so We wouldn't say she was all that out of character. We admit, it could have been a little lighter. But when have you _not _seen Winry start yelling about her automail, then get snippish after?

**Fang**: xD We've had so many opportunities.. We just couldn't get around to typing Our ideas down... xD Sorry! xD Besides, Ed always survives! That kid refuses to die! But We swear, We'll kill him off one of these days...

**vampirelf**: xD It was much shorter than the other ones. We're hoping this one is longer. xD You are a good reviewer! Thanks!

**Me And My God Complex: **Thanks!

**Sin of Otaku**: xD We can't resist them either. So cute!

**Demon Lord Sesshoumaru**: Thanks!

**Rose**: Bah!

**Disclaimer**: Don't own! Song is "Of All The Gin Joints In The World" by Fall Out Boy.

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/We're making out inside crashed cars/

Edward had refused.

Flat out refused.

He'd refused to stay at the office. "_Who knows what goes on at night here,_" had been his reasoning.

None of the soldiers could blame him, really. _They _wouldn't want to stay at the office at night. It'd probably be totally boring and lonely, not to mention rather cold (the heaters were always turned down after hours). So none of them could honestly say they'd accept if they were in his place.

/We're sleeping through all our memories/

So off Ed and Roy went, followed closely by Aru, who was getting ready to go to the train station, claiming he "didn't want to intrude" and that he was going to Resembool with Winry. Neither state alchemist minded. It was better that Aru go be taken care of somewhere else. (Not, of course, that a suit of armor needed much care.)

They were driving down the street, Ed curled up on the passenger seat despite the wishes of Roy, who'd told him to "sit up and get yourself buckled". Apparently the whole drive thing had been too much for the chimera, who had sat shivering for a short while (because he was obviously afraid of the car now) before snuggling against the armrest and falling right to sleep. Roy had attempted to wake him for a few moments, but finally gave up. There wasn't much else to do, and besides, he had to watch the road.

So when they pulled into Roy's driveway, and Ed fell right off the seat, Roy felt no sympathy. He _had _told him to buckle himself up, after all. Edward woke up, spluttering. Apparently he'd landed on his tail. Roy, of course, didn't care, and just told him to get up and come in the house.

/I used to waste my time dreaming of being alive (now I only waste it dreaming of you)/

Edward obliged, picking himself up with his mismatching limbs and stumping in after the colonel. Despite what he'd pictured, the house was clean. There weren't any piles of cans, nor any empty rummy boxes. (Roy would probably kill him if he knew what Ed thought his house would look like, mind.) Of course there wouldn't be anything like that. There was someone else there, after all, who liked it clean and took care of it.

Rose.

The redhaired girl had hauled open the door before they got there, hearing the car. Of course, she hadn't expected her only uncle to return with a blonde catboy. So when she spotted Edward, who had tripped and was currently lying facedown on the walk, she nearly screamed. Abandoning all caution, the blue-eyed girl had tiptoed over to the chimera, and poked one of his ears. It twitched, and she'd yelped.

When Edward sat up, he was greeted with a nice view of Rose's cleavage (she happened to be wearing a low-cut V-neck) because she was bent over in front of him, staring. He immediately colored and jumped back, and she pointed at him. "Ed!"

/Turn off the lights, and turn off the shyness/

Edward sighed, looking up at her guiltily. "Yeah?" This wasn't going to go over too well... Especially not with Roy, who was bound to torch him as soon as Rose went out to buy more food. Because, as everyone knows, Roy does not go grocery shopping.

To his surprise, Rose didn't do anything violent or anything to do with Ed looking down her shirt. She was more concerned with his head. "What are _those_!" she demanded, prodding one of his ears for effect. It twitched, and she jumped back again.

Edward sighed again. "My ears," he replied, said ears moving in explanation. "Is it that weird?" It wasn't to him anymore... Not really. He was getting used to it, though he missed his real form quite desperately. "I hope you know I have a tail, too." Stupid thing to say. Next thing he knew there was a rather excruciating pain in his tail and Rose was actually _hugging _it.

/All of our moves make up for the silence/

"You're so cute!"

Edward gonked, Roy fumed, and Rose squeed all the way into the house. As soon as they were in, Edward started exploring the house, Rose toddling after him rather like a small child who was infatuated with a plushie. Roy stepped back out the door, claiming he was going "to the office" and that he'd be back for dinner.

Neither Edward nor Rose saw him again that day.

/And oh, the way your makeup stains my pillowcase/

A few hours later, Rose looked up from her book. Edward had taken over the couch, and he looked up as well, tail twitching curiously. "What's up, Rose?"

Rose looked over at the small blonde. "Nothing... Taisa's not home. That's all," she assured him.

Edward nodded, understanding. "Wait," he mumbled. "When does he get off work?"

Rose paused. "Around... ten or eleven, why?" What was he getting at..?

Edward pointed a claw at the clock. One thirty. "Look. Even if he goes to the bar, he should be back by now, right?" This smelled mighty fishy...

The redhaired girl froze. "Where could he have gone...?" This... oh no. She got up abruptly, scaring the heck out of Edward. "We have to find him," she informed him. "C'mon.

/Like I'll never be the same/

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This one was short too! Oh noes!


	6. Chapter 6

Here it is, chapitre six...

**Review Replies:**

**Rose**: xD Liked that, hm?

Away. x3 He'll be around.

**Envy**: Shortest yet, dear Envy. xD Wut're you going on about?

**Fang**: xD No, We can't kill Ed. We've been trying, but it's not happening. We've got an ulterior motive here. And... the last chapter wasn't _intentionally _short, but this one should be longer.

You do? What do you think is going to happen?

**Taisa**: Ooooh, smartsies! xD Well.. Here, then xD j00r long chapter.

**Disclaimer**: Don't own! Dividers are "Suddenly I See" by KT Tunstall.

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/Her face is a map of the world (is a map of the world)/

She held out a coat for him, letting the catboy shrug it on. It was one of Roy's work trenchcoats; more than enough to hide him. She pulled on her own coat, which was about thigh-length. "Ready?" Rose asked Edward, who was getting used to having his ears under the uniform hat he'd put on.

"Ready," replied the catboy, nodding. "How are we going to go?" He knew Roy had taken the car, so he wasn't quite sure.

"How else?" asked Rose, as if it were obvious. "We're walking. I walk all over the place. You shouldn't have a hard time," she added, looking at him. "You should have good stamina, right?" Obviously Rose had gotten over Edward's "change" pretty fast. Not without a few tacklehugs, of course.

"Right," he replied, shrugging. "Let's go, then.." He didn't bother to put on boots. There was no point, if they were just going to fall off with his weird paw-feet anyway.

Rose nodded. "Alright," she responded, pulling open the door. The night air filled the room, chilling it a little, but neither rescuer noticed and the pair of them simply stepped out of the door. As soon as they did, Rose looked at her friend. "Can you figure out where she went?"

"I'm not a dog," grumbled Ed as retort, but he did sniff around to find the colonel. Finally he pointed down the road. "I think he went that way." It was faint, since Roy had been in the car, but it was there all the same.

/You can see she's a beautiful girl (she's a beautiful girl)/

They finally found Roy's car, rather mangled. Rose stared at it in horror, but Ed shook his head. "He's not in there," he assured the colonel's niece, who looked at him in obvious terror for a moment before nodding, accepting that Roy was gone and he obviously was not dead... unless his body was somewhere else, and then that would defeat the purpose of Ed trying to calm her down in the first place.

They walked past it, dismissing it for now. They'd have to get a new car (or at least fix it themselves with alchemy), but that wasn't the point. Ed was just glad the scary machine was dead, but he didn't tell Rose that. So off they went, till Ed blinked, staring up at a building. It looked abandoned, but the security was much too high for something abandoned... That made him think. "Rose, d'you think..."

Rose looked over at her small friend, tilting her head. "Do I think what?" she asked, joining him near the large gate. It didn't seem like anything was up to her..

"D'you think he could be in there?" Sure enough, there was a flash of blue light from one of the windows, and a howl. A scream of pain... Edward covered his ears. He'd recognized that voice... And he didn't doubt he'd screamed when it'd happened...

Abandoning all caution, the blonde began to clamber over the fence, and Rose latched onto his legs, dragging him back down. "You can't get in that way," she rebuked. "We have to sneak in somewhere else."

/And everything around her is a silver pool of light/

So they'd gone around the back, and found a hole there. Edward had left it, when he'd escaped from the place. He hadn't remembered it until now (not even the building itself), and he pointed out the hole to Rose, who nodded. "Let's go," she hissed, taking his paw and dragging him through. "We have to go get him."

Edward looked at her uneasily for a moment. What if she got caught, too? But then again, Edward and Roy were both skilled alchemists. Edward could use his power, so there was no reason Roy wouldn't be able to use his as well, so when they found Roy, it wouldn't be hard to get out without the only fully-functioning member of their . "Right.."

The pair looked up at the large building, seeking the fastest way in. They found it in a small rusted door. Edward began to pull it open, but it let out a screech of displeasure deep in its hinges and Ed let go of the handle, covering his ears for a moment. Rose waved a hand at him, beckoning the boy over. "C'mere," she said. "This is how you do it." She hauled the handle up, pulling the door open carefully. It didn't make a sound, and it swung open without sticking.

Edward stared. "What'd you do?" he questioned, examining the door. /That/ didn't make much sense... But now that he looked at it.. The door was rather heavy. Lifting it up would both take pressure off and get some of the rust out of the hinges, which was bound to make it a little less sticky.

Rose seemed to realize he knew what she'd done now, and didn't answer, just pulled him through the doorway again. "You need to lead us through," she mumbled. "You should be able to find him, right?"

/The people who surround her feel the benefit of it/

And that brought them to now, walking past rows of cells of both failed and successful chimera attempts. Edward had just covered his ears and looked straight ahead; Rose, on the other hand, had actually shut her eyes, and was clinging to Edward's paw in an attempt to forget about the creatures that lined the walls. He didn't mind, and just urged her on.

And finally...

They passed a cell, number 66. It wasn't big, maybe half the size the other cells were, but this one had heavier security, as if the owner was very intelligent and could break out of many locks. Edward stopped, peering inside. What was lying on the floor looking rather bloodied made him wince, and he immediately started picking at the lock with a claw. "Rose," he hissed. "Found him."

/It makes you calm/

Rose turned around slowly, letting out a gasp as her eyes fell across what looked to be her uncle. "Taisa!" She rushed the short distance over, grasping one of the bars of the cage desperately.

"Don't make a lot of noise," Edward instructed, finally getting the lock open, though bending a claw in the process. "He's probably in a lot of pain and has a headache or something, and if we're loud, we'll be caught."

Rose nodded worriedly, quieting. "What should we do with him?" she asked edgily, looking down at the crumpled form of what was arguably her uncle. "We can't stay long.."

Edward crouched near the darkhaired man, pushing him up. "Here, take his legs," he instructed. "We'll carry him out like that." They'd have to move quickly, but...

The blue-eyed girl shook her head. "I'll piggyback him," she replied. "He's pretty light. Doesn't matter. We just need to get him home," she added, pulling her uncle up from Edward's palms and slinging him onto her back, turning to leave the cell. She did, and beckoned for him to follow.

/She holds you captivated in her palm/

They were out now, making sure that they didn't run into any security or anything. The pair hadn't seen anyone, which was kind of weird. Edward left the hole in the fence the way it was, even shook the sand from the hole in the wall up a little so it didn't look like it'd been stepped on. Rose looked over at the car as they passed, wondering if she should get Ed to fix it so they could drive back. Unfortunately, the gas tank was busted, so it was all over the ground, and no matter what, they wouldn't be able to go anywhere in the car till they got it fixed properly. So they just walked all the way home, till they got back and Rose put Roy on the couch, where he lay motionless.

So they sat, watching for any improvement. Edward went and got Rose a pillow and a blanket, and she actually slept at Roy's "bedside". Ed, on the other hand, went to sleep on the armchair, since Roy had taken up his beloved couch. They could figure this out in the morning...

Edward didn't really think Rose wanted to accept that Roy had a number of new appendages: ears, tail, and paws being the most prominent. Like Edward, but a different color scheme. It was rather mortifying to think that of all the people who could have become these sorts of creatures, it had to be some of the most famous alchemists around, pillars of strength for the people.. Was something going to happen?

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Got tired of typing around the end. xD We hope it's not too short!


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